Religious liberty now in jeopardy

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 12:00 am, Friday, March 17, 2006

State Victim Advocate James E. Papillo caused no small stir last week when he urged lawmakers to oppose a bill that would require all hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, to provide the morning-after pill to rape victims.

The Associated Press
story carried by The News-Times quoted sources lobbying for the legislation that were "shocked" and "horrified" at his point of view. In fact, he even "mentioned the
Catholic Church
and Catholic hospitals 10 times in his written testimony."

Horrors!

The Catholic Church is opposed to administering the morning-after pill. According to church documents, "every procedure whose sole immediate effect is the termination of pregnancy before viability is an abortion . . . (and) includes the interval between conception and implantation of the embryo."

In other words, the morning-after pill is not just emergency contraception, preventing a pregnancy, but is destroying a life.

Right or wrong, they have a constitutional right to hold that position, and to act according to their convictions.

Every citizen, whether they agree with Catholics or not, should oppose this legislation. It is clearly unconstitutional and will set a dangerous precedent.

This bill will mandate that Catholics act contrary to their convictions and is a blatant infringement on their religious liberty.

Recently, Congress passed a law denying federal funds to universities that refused to host military recruiters. The law exempted any institution with "a long-standing policy of pacifism based on historical religious affiliation."

They understood that the religious liberty of these institutions needed to be protected. These same guidelines should apply in this situation.

Hopefully, the
General Assembly
of the Constitution State will remember that their power is limited by the Constitution.

It is wrong to make laws to protect the rights of one American by denying the rights of another.